Tagged: Jake Peavy

As many of you know, I’ve had some ideas about creating a salary cap for baseball. If you haven’t read my ideas on a salary cap here is the link to that post. Anyway, I was listening to Mike & Mike the other day on ESPN radio and they said something that made a lot of sense to me. They said you could put a team in Idaho with Mark Cuban as owner and they would compete. The idea behind this is that the owner must be willing to spend money. I agree with this theory about Cuban, but unfortunately, there are too many owners unable or unwilling to do this.

Speaking of Mark Cuban, it was only a few years ago that I was hoping he would become the next owner of the Cubs. I wrote several posts in 2008 hoping that Cuban would buy the Cubs. Here is just one of those posts. During that time, I also had hopes that the Cubs would get C.C. Sabathia. Then it was Jake Peavy. This off-season I wanted the Cubs to deal for Adrian Gonzalez. None of these things happened. No Mark Cuban, no C.C. Sabathia, no Jake Peavy and no Adrian Gonzalez. Well, now I am wanting the Cubs to go after Albert Pujols when he becomes a free agent. However, I have the feeling we won’t get him either. So, I have decided to do my best to avoid writing any posts about the Cubs signing Albert. Maybe that way I won’t jinx the Cubs chances!!!!

I like the decision by Mike Quade to make Ryan Dempster the opening day starter. Since becoming a starter for the Cubs he’s won 43 games and lost 27 with a solid 3.49 ERA. It appears Zambrano will be our number 2 starter and Garza will be our number 3. I like that setup right there. I think Garza will be the best number 3 starter in the National League.

Every offseason I pine over players that I want the Cubs to pursue. In the winter after the 2008 season, I wanted the Cubs to go after Jake Peavy. Can you blame me? I guess it’s a good thing we didn’t get him. He’s only made 33 starts in 2009 and 2010 combined. This year I wanted the Cubs to attempt to trade for Adrian Gonzalez. I think he’s a stud and would have solved a lot of problems the Cubs have….lefthanded power, firstbase, good glove and clubhouse leader to name a few. Anyway, he’s now on the Red Sox and I see him signing an extension with them by next spring. The next player I am drooling over is Matt Garza. Ever since I read the first trade rumor that the Cubs may be interested in him I have been thinking how great he would be in our rotation. If we trade for Garza I hope we keep minor league shortstop Hak-Ju Lee unless we plan on signing Jose Reyes at the end of the 2011 season. He’ll be a free agent then. I’m not a big Reyes fan, but he would fill our need at the leadoff spot in our batting order. Personally, I would like to get a deal done for Garza without trading Lee.

As for firstbase. I know we signed Carlos Pena to a one year deal and it’s possible that he ends up being playing first for us more than next year. However, if he doesn’t work out and we don’t resign him after next year I think we need to strongly consider Prince Fielder. Fielder is young and provides a ton of power from the lefthand side of the plate. He’s not known for his defense and I’m not sure how good of a leader he is, but it’s an option.

Needless to say, I want Garza pretty bad, but am beginning to think it’s not going to happen. Only time will tell. Until then, I need to be patient and trust that Jim Hendry will make the right moves at the right time.

The Cubs need a boost. I don’t think there is any denying it. We have had injuries this season to Aramis Ramirez, Rich Harden, Carlos Zambrano and the list goes on and on. Milton Bradley hasn’t hit well and neither has Soto. Fontenot has been playing out of position at third since Aramis went on the DL and his hitting has suffered since moving to the other side of the infield. The Cubs have brought up Bobby Scales, Andres Blanco and Jake Fox. I say we keep Scales and Fox up and let go of Freel and Miles who are both on the DL. Blanco is a great defender, but is not known for his hitting. If he gets sent down it won’t bother me one bit.

I still want the Cubs to acquire Jake Peavy. I say we trade young Josh Vitters, pictured below, to obtain Peavy.

The Cubs will hopefully be active this summer before the trade deadline. I want to get another stud pitcher. Peavy is at the top of my list. He may be the kind of guy that puts the Cubs over the top. I would hate to lose Vitters in a deal, but I also understand that it would take a deal involving him to get Peavy. I would be willing to make that sacrifice.

During the winter months and early into spring training I was hoping the Cubs would make a deal for San Diego’s ace pitcher, Jake Peavy. That trade never happened even though I still wish it would. Then this week Peavy rejected a trade that would send him to the White Sox. That made me very happy. If the Pads do trade Peavy to someone besides the Cubs I pray it’s not the White Sox or Cardinals. Anyway, Peavy pitched against the Cubs last night and I knew he was gonna bring his “A” game. What I really appreciated though was the reaction by the Padres fans. They showed their respect last night to Peavy for choosing to stay a Padre. They also showed their class by cheering loudly for newly acquired Tony Gwynn, Jr. Living in the midwest I don’t know any Padres fans and rarely get to see them play on tv. But last night these fans displayed class and respect for Peavy and Gwynn. They cheered the way fans should. Jake Peavy is a class act. Take for example last night after Carlos Zambrano hit David Eckstein with a pitch in the first inning. Bobby Scales led off the second inning for the Cubs and Peavy hit him in the right thigh area. He did what he was supposed to do. But the classy thing about it was the fact that he didn’t go head hunting. He wasn’t there to hurt Scales. He did it the right way. Even though the home plate umpire gave warnings to both teams I don’t believe their was any anger between the teams.

Now the Cubs need to figure out how to score some runs. Over the last week it seems the team has forgotten how to get guys to cross homeplate. It’s frustrating!!!! We have too much talent on this team to struggle the way we are right now.

This week has been a frustrating week for me as a Cubs fan. The Cards just swept the Cubs and shut down their bats. I was fortunate enough to go to the first game of the series and enjoyed getting to see the Cubs play despite being shut out by Joel Piniero. Piniero pitched a great game and as a fan of the game I can appreciate what he did. It just sucked that it was against my Cubbies.

Lou needs to do something to wake this team up. They seem like they are in a daze. As of today, we have lost 4 in a row. It’s not the end of the world, but I know the Cubs can do better.

On to Jake Peavy. Thank God he rejected the trade that would have sent him to the White Sox. I could not imagine him playing for them. I think the Cubs could get him if they could ever finalize the sale of the team. But that may not happen until the end of the season now.

Well, the Cubs play the next 3 in San Diego. Hopefully, we can get back to winning games.

The Chicago Cubs have finally traded Felix Pie. The signing of speedy outfielder Joey Gathright this winter pretty much sealed Pie’s fate. He was out of options preventing the Cubs from sending him back to the minors if he did not perform well enough in spring training. The Cubs received two pitchers in return from the Baltimore Orioles. LHP Garrett Olson is a pitcher that seems to have some value. He is only 25 and has a full year of big league experience under his belt. I can see him used out of the bullpen or as 5th starter. If Sean Marshall moves into the starting rotation I can see Olson taking Marshall’s role in the pen.

So Taguchi has signed a minor league deal with the Cubs. I imagine he won’t make the team, but he may help Fukudome some in spring training. I beleive that Fukudome will play much better this year.

The Jake Peavy rumors are still circulating. I have read from numerous Cubs and Padres sources that the talks may begin in April once the sale of the Cubs is complete. That would be awesome. We could even package newly acquired Garrett Olson in the deal.

This off-season hasn’t gone as well as I would have hoped thus far. Initially, I thought things were going smoothly. Hendry and the Cubs picked up Rich Harden’s option. Then the Cubs extended Hendry’s contract. Then they re-signed Ryan Dempster to a four year deal. Then things started going a different direction. First, the Cubs decided not to re-sign Kerry Wood, who is now a member of the Cleveland Indians. Then they traded minor league stud Jose Ceda for Kevin Gregg.

This week the Cubs were able to sign Joey Gathright. It is a one year deal at $800,000. I like Gathright but I wonder where that leaves Felix Pie. From my understanding, Pie is out of options and the Cubs are looking at trading him. If they do trade him I would love for it to be for Jake Peavy. I have read that the Peavy talks may still have life. If that is true I would love to see it happen. I have also read that the Cubs may have an interest in Derek Lowe.

I still wonder what Hendry has in mind for a left handed power bat. I wanted the Cubs to pursue Raul Ibanez and unfortunately the Phillies signed him. There are three names still out there that could fill that need. Adam Dunn, Milton Bradley and Bobby Abreu. I don’t know which one I would want. Dunn plays terrible defense but can crush the ball while batting .230 or .240. Bradley has a reputation for being injury prone and a reputation for having a short fuse. Bobby Abreu is getting older but can steal hit and even steal bases. I think Abreu wants more money than the Cubs would be willing to offer.

Whatever the Cubs decide to do I hope it is soon. Jim Hendry has been aggressive in the past and the team has benefited from it. I hope he trades for Peavy and signs Dunn, Bradley or Abreu. Hopefully, that would put the Cubs over the top.